Science is International
With regard to the recent travel ban to the United States, the German Association for American Studies (GAAS) supports the Resolution “Science is International” of the Science Organizations in Germany (February 7, 2017).
Conference Reminder: “Citizenship and Literature: Past Concerns, Present Issues, Future Trajectories”
English Department, University of Münster, February 20-21, 2017 Registration is now open. To register, please send a short e-mail with the header ‘registration literature and citizenship’ stating your name and affiliation to citizenshipandliterature@wwu.de. There are no conference fees but in order to facilitate our planning, please register at your earliest convenience For the conference program and further information please visit our conference website...
Jubiläums-Symposium „Futures of the Study of Culture“
7.-8. Juli 2016, Alte Gießerei (Heyligenstaedt, Aulweg 41, 35392 Gießen) Laden Jubiläen meist zur Reflexion über Vergangenes ein, richtet das Gießener Graduiertenzentrum Kulturwissenschaften im Jubiläumsjahr 2016 den Blick nach vorn. Mit dem internationalen Symposium „Futures of the Study of Culture“ feiern das GGK und das GCSC (International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture) ihr fünfzehn- bzw. zehnjähriges Bestehen. Das Symposium steht somit ganz im Zeichen der Frage, welche Themen- und Handlungsfelder, aber auch welche gesellschaftlichen und wissenschaftlichen Herausforderungen die interdisziplinären Kulturwissenschaften in den kommenden Jahren beschäftigen werden. Neben programmatischen Vorträgen von Gästen und Nachwuchswissenschaftler_innen des GGK/GCSC wird eine Roundtable-Diskussion die Diskussion im Austausch mit unserem Publikum weiterführen. Die programmatischen Vorträge bieten einen dezidiert multiperspektivischen Blick auf kulturwissenschaftliche Forschung im 21. Jahrhundert. Zu den Vortragenden gehören nationale wie internationale Gäste wie Nicole Anderson (Macquarie University, Sydney), Peter Galison (Harvard University), Isabel Gil (CU Portugal, Lisbon), Richard Grusin (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee), Ursula Heise (University of California, Los Angeles) Andreas Reckwitz (Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder), Silke Schicktanz (Institut für Ethik und Geschichte der Medizin, Göttingen) und Frederik Tygstrup (University of Copenhagen). Interessierte werden gebeten, sich auf der Homepage des Jubiläums-Symposiums anzumelden: https://anniversarysymposium.wordpress.com/rsvp/ Weitere Informationen zum Programm finden Sie unter:...
International Conference: Public Feeling in Global Contexts
April 9-10, 2016; Alte Universitätsbibliothek (Universitätsstraße 4/Eingang: Schuhstraße), 91054 Erlangen Organized by Katharina Gerund and Heike Paul Following a broader ‘turn to affect’ (Patricia Clough) in the humanities and the social sciences, this conference seeks to investigate public feeling – as articulation, representation, and cultural and institutional practice – and the various functions it has in every-day life, in political communication, in allegedly private realms as well as in constructions of “intimate public spheres” (Lauren Berlant). The conference brings together scholars from different disciplines (sociology, literary studies, political science, art history, and media studies) in order to discuss the changing cultural specificities and the global impact of “affective economies” (Sara Ahmed) and “feeling rules” (Arlie Hochschild) in a framework of transnational and comparative cultural studies. In the course of our two-day conference, we will address phenomena such as a post-9/11 political culture and its repertoire of affects; strategies/processes of (political) inclusion and exclusion via affective protocols; fear, anger, and (romantic) love as, purportedly, global “structures of feeling” (Raymond Williams); the (re)turn to/of aesthetics and affect in contemporary (popular) culture and art; and the role of affect for contemporary protest movements and political opposition. From the various cultural and disciplinary angles involved, we will shed light on the ways in which public feeling-scholarship extends – and still needs to be extended further – beyond its current US-centered, Euro-American framework. Topics include how affects and emotions impact individual and collective identity formation in the age of globalization; how affect and feeling are entangled with cultural difference and constructions of otherness, and what kind of political work they perform in every-day situations and in ‘states of exception’. There is no conference fee. Please register by April 1, 2016 via e-mail to:...
Nachruf auf Professor Dr. Peter Schäfer
In Memoriam Professor Dr. Peter Schäfer, 1931-2016 Am 29. Februar 2016 ist Professor Dr. Peter Schäfer im Alter von 84 Jahren verstorben. Er war bis zu seiner Emeritierung im Jahr 1996 ordentlicher Professor für Neue Geschichte mit dem Schwerpunkt Geschichte Nordamerikas an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität. Nachruf Amerikanische Geschichte jahrzehntelang als nicht-ideologisierte Wissenschaft in der ehemaligen DDR betrieben zu haben, wirkt im Nachhinein fast wie ein Widerspruch in sich. Peter Schäfer war es gelungen, sich ihm in seiner langjährigen Tätigkeit in Forschung und Lehre immer wieder erfolgreich zu stellen. Ohne eine Zugehörigkeit zum DDR-Reisekader war es ihm bis zum Fall der Mauer nicht vergönnt gewesen, die für den Nordamerika-Historiker so relevanten Primärquellen vor Ort einzusehen. Erst die Wende und seine kurz zuvor erfolgte Berufung zum außerordentlichen Professor versetzten ihn in die Lage, die einschlägigen Archive in Washington, D.C. im Rahmen eines vom dortigen Deutschen Historischen Institut gesponsorten zweimonatigen Forschungsaufenthaltes aufzusuchen. In diesem Zeitraum hatte ich als damaliger Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter dieses Instituts die Gelegenheit, ihn kennen zu lernen. Seitdem waren wir einander, auch über große Entfernungen hinweg, freundschaftlich und beruflich verbunden geblieben. Am 4. März 1931 in Berlin geboren, studierte Peter Schäfer von 1949 bis 1953 an der Humboldt-Universität, unter anderem bei dem Mediävisten Fritz Rörig, dem Frühen Neuzeitler Gerhard Schilfert sowie bei Alfred Meusel, der u.a. auch zur Englischen Revolution publizierte und dem Schäfer ein bleibendes Interesse an der Französischen Revolution verdankte. 1960 promovierte er dort mit einer Dissertation über Die Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und den Vereinigten Staaten zwischen 1933 und 1939, unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der handelspolitischen Beziehungen und der Boykottbewegung in den Vereinigten Staaten, was bereits einen gewichtigen Schwerpunkt seiner künftigen Arbeit kennzeichnete. In seiner anschließenden Tätigkeit als Wissenschaftlicher Assistent und Oberassistent am Institut für Allgemeine Geschichte/Abteilung Neuzeit derselben Hochschule entstanden Arbeiten zur deutschen Agrargeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit, zur Berliner Universitätsgeschichte und zur Neuesten Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten. Die ersten Publikationen nach dieser Qualifikationschrift konzentrierten sich dabei einerseits auf die bilateralen Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und den USA vor dem Ausbruch des Zweiten Weltkrieges und ferner auf die amerikanische Innenpolitik der Franklin D. Roosevelt-Administration, insbesondere den New Deal. 1963 wechselte Peter Schäfer dann zur Alma mater Jenensis, wo er “Wahrnehmungsdozent” bzw. Dozent für Allgemeine Geschichte der Neuzeit und der Neuesten Zeit am Historischen Institut bzw. der entsprechenden Sektion unserer Universität wurde; eine Tätigkeit, der er bis 1989 nachgehen sollte. Innerhalb dieser Zeitspanne – seit 1976 – gelang es ihm, die Einrichtung einer Arbeitsgruppe zur Geschichte der USA an der Sektion Geschichte der FSU zu bewerkstelligen. Neben einer engagierten und renommierten Lehr- und Aufbautätigkeit waren vielfältige Arbeiten zur Geschichte der USA zwischen 1914 und 1945, zur Geschichte der amerikanischen Präsidenten und der...
Symposium Transnational American Studies
Symposium zu Ehren von Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alfred Hornung, ehemaliger Präsident der DGfA, ehemaliger General Editor der Amerikastudien/American Studies, Ehrensprecher des Zentrums für Interkulturelle Studien / ZIS, anlässlich seines 70. Geburtstages Atrium Maximum der Alten Mensa Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz 5./6. Februar...
International Conference: Surveillance, Society, Culture
University of Goettingen, February 26-28, 2016 This conference aims to study the cultures and society of surveillance. The goal is to bring together literary, cultural and surveillance studies to provide a transdisciplinary framework and generate new approaches to fundamental questions: How has surveillance changed historically and how have these changes been discussed both in the American and in the transnational context? How have these changes been represented in literary and visual culture? What is the ideological significance of surveillance-related genres like the detective or spy novel? Is there an “ethics” of surveillance and how are ethical questions negotiated in literature and culture? How is “meaning”produced textually and semiotically in a surveillance situation? How can cultural artifacts like novels or films operate as actors in the multiple networks of surveillance? How can the processes of subject formation that constitute the observers as well as the observed be described? How do the arts reflect the challenges to the individual posed by technological development? How does the omnipresence of various gazes affect cultural narratives of the “self”? https://surveillanceconference2016.wordpress.com/ Please register via: ssc2016@uni-goettingen.de The conference is open to the public. There is no conference...
Annual Meeting of the Historians in the German Association of American Studies 2016
Auto/Biographies in American History February 5 – 7, 2016 Biography and autobiography are central to the study of American history, and this not only because U.S. history was structured and shaped by a specific and yet diverse set of historical actors. Rather, a culture based on individualism, ‘doability,’ and achievement seems to systematically create an interest in the lives of men and women acting in the contexts of their times. The popularity and presence of biography and autobiography in American historiography stands in stark contrast to the theoretical endeavors of the field. Until recently, the biographical genre moved in the long shadow of Leon Edel and his model of the “secret-self-biography.” In the 1990s, the project of a “new biography” began to unfold, which has not only expanded the range of American biographical practice in general, but also challenges some of the key premises upon which the biographical tradition rests. Historians were – and in many cases still are –reluctant to receive the theoretical debates primarily led by literary and cultural critics. The conference brings together practitioners in the field of biography and theoreticians from the field of literary studies to discuss the opportunities and limits of the current interdisciplinary debates about life writing. Conference Program Please register by January 15, 2016 with Volker Depkat: volker.depkat@ur.de If you registered, but cannot take part for some reason, you should notify the Academy by February 2, 2016 (at the latest); otherwise we will have to charge 50 % of the conference fee. Conference fee: Including room and board: 130 EUR (w/o room: 80 EUR) We ask you to pay when checking in. Meals: All meals are included in the conference fee. Vegetarian meals can be served if the Academy is notified in...
Rundschreiben der DGfA zur DFG-Kollegienwahl
Liebe Mitglieder der DGfA: In der Zeit vom 26.10. bis 23.11.2015 finden die Wahlen für die Fachkollegien der DFG für die Amtsperiode 2016-2019 statt. Alle promovierten Mitglieder sind wahlberechtigt, und ich möchte Sie bitten, dieses Wahlrecht im Sinne unserer Gesellschaft zu nutzen. Wenn Sie nach Abschluss der Promotion vor dem ersten Wahltag keine Aufforderung bzw. offizielle Mitteilung zur Wahl erhalten, sollten Sie sich an den Wahlvorstand ihrer Universität wenden. Ich möchte die Gelegenheit nutzen, unserem langjährigen Vertreter im Fachkollegium Literaturwissenschaft, Alfred Hornung, für sein außerordentliches Engagement und seinen unermüdlichen Einsatz für die Unterstützung der amerikanistischen Forschung ebenso wie für die zahlreichen Informationsveranstaltungen bei Jahrestagungen der DGfA zu danken. Seine Erfahrung und sein umsichtiges Handeln haben dazu beigetragen, die amerikanistische Forschungslandschaft bei der DFG sichtbar und erfolgreich zu machen.Nachdem nun die Kandidat_innenlisten für die Wahlen veröffentlicht sind und sich nach der Zusammenstellung durch die DFG neue Konstellationen ergeben haben, sollte durch die Ausübung des Wahlrechts sichergestellt werden, dass ein Vertreter der DGfA in das Fachkollegium gewählt wird. Vorstand und Beirat haben nach ausführlichen Diskussionen beschlossen, der Mitgliederversammlung Peter Schneck (Universität Osnabrück) als Kandidaten der DGfA für das Fachkollegium vorzuschlagen. Diesem Vorschlag hat die Mitglieder-versammlung im Mai in Bonn zugestimmt, und er wurde von der DFG angenommen. Mit Peter Schneck als ehemaligem Präsidenten der DGfA hätten wir einen Amerikanisten im Fachkollegium, der mit seiner langjährigen Forschungs- und Drittmittelerfahrung (u.a. bei der DFG), seinem internationalen Renommé und seiner Kenntnis der Strukturen der DGfA (u.a. als Gründungsmitglied des PGF, als langjähriges Beiratsmitglied und als Präsident im Vorstand) die Amerikastudien in allen ihren Facetten bestens kennt und nachhaltig unterstützt. Alle Wahlberechtigen haben 6 Stimmen. Davon können 3 auf eine Person kumuliert, die 3 weiteren nur einzeln verteilt werden. Im Sinne unseres Beschlusses wäre es, 3 Stimmen an Peter Schneck zu vergeben und die 3 anderen auf andere Kandidat_innen zu verteilen. Dabei handelt es sich um eine Empfehlung, die den Beschlüssen der DGfA entspricht. Selbstverständlich sind alle Wahlberechtigten in der Ausübung ihres Wahlrechts frei. Für Rückfragen stehen alle Vorstands- und Beiratsmitglieder ebenso wie Alfred Hornung zur Verfügung. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, wenn nötig, sich an uns zu wenden. Auch über Rückmeldungen und Kommentare würde ich mich freuen. Das Wichtigste aber ist, dass Sie Ihr Wahlrecht wahrnehmen. Mit herzlichen Grüßen und allen guten Wünschen für den Semesterstart. Prof. Dr. Carmen Birkle Präsidentin der DGfA DFG_Kollegienwahl_2015...
Special Conference: “Perilous Passages – The Birth of Risk in 19th Century American Culture”
23rd–24th October 2015, Schloss Thurnau University of Bayreuth / University of Erlangen-Nuremberg This conference draws attention to the crucial role the nineteenth century played—particularly in the transatlantic North American context—in transforming the meaning of risk and moving it from the margins of particular trade enterprises to the center of social cohesion and individual identity. For more information see the conference abstract and the preliminary program. You may register now! Organizers: Prof. Dr. Jeanne Cortiel (University of Bayreuth) Dr. Karin Hoepker (University of...
Call for Workshop Proposals: 63rd Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies (DGfA), Osnabrück (Germany), May 19-22, 2016
“The United States and the Question of Rights” Deadline: October 01, 2015 In U.S.-American politics, society and culture, questions concerning the justification, attainment and protection of human and civil rights have always been essential. Despite its obvious legal connotations, however, the intense concern with the question of rights cannot be understood exclusively from a legal perspective. The conviction that humans as citizens possess natural and constitutional rights and that they are defined through these very rights as humans and citizens is an integral part of the historical, political, social, and cultural self-conceptualization of the United States. This basic understanding is both constitutive as well as formative, i.e. it serves as the foundational argument for a number of interconnected, yet often also conflicting narratives, discourses, and practices through which the question concerning the rights of humans and citizens is constantly being re-negotiated. The history of the U.S. may be – or even must be – viewed as an ongoing struggle about the realization and protection, but also the limitation and violation of rights. The emphatic understanding of the fundamental status of rights in U.S.-American history and culture has also found expression in international and intercultural relations and controversies, as, for instance, contemporary debates about the NSA or the U.S. support (or lack thereof) for human rights groups and their struggles in non-democratic regimes clearly suggest. The “question of rights” is thus not merely constitutive of the self-understanding of the United States, it also—and with the same intensity—affects its perception from outside. The key theme of the 2016 convention is meant to encourage much more than the mere reproduction and reflection of historical controversies or more current political debates in the context of an academic conference. On the one hand, due to its historical depth and its significance across different disciplines and fields, the question of rights addresses all areas of American Studies and thus serves as a fulcrum of any research focused primarily on the United States. On the other hand, the fact that the field of American Studies itself—in its development, its central questions and objectives, and its changing self-understanding—time and again has been, and continues to be, influenced by a fundamental concern for justice and rights, endows the conference theme with a distinct potential to reflect upon the discipline’s central concepts and theories. The 2016 convention will attempt to tackle the question of rights in the context of U.S.-American politics, society, history, and culture from the diverse angles of literary and cultural studies, media studies, the arts, history, political science, sociology, economics, and legal studies. Exemplary general topics for workshops include, but are not limited to: The history...
Impressions from the 62nd GAAS Conference at the University of Bonn
We kindly invite you to revisit the 62nd GAAS Conference on “Knowledge Landscapes North America” at the University of Bonn: On our conference website you find a selection of the photographs taken by Katharina Lurz, a student in our MA program, during the events at the end of May. Just follow this link: http://gaas2015.com/2015/06/10/impressions-from-the-conference/ In case you do not agree to have your photograph published, please let us know....
Call for Papers – Annual Conference of the Historians in the DGfA: „Auto/Biographies in American History“
5.2.-7.2.2016, Akademie für Politische Bildung Tutzing Deadline for abstracts (500 words max): July 31, 2015. Biography and autobiography are central to the study of American history, and this not only because U.S. history was structured and shaped by a specific and yet diverse set of historical actors. Rather, a culture based on individualism, “doability,” and individual achievement seems to systematically create a special interests in the lives of men and women acting in the specific context of their times. However, the popularity and presence of biography and autobiography in the study of American history is in stark contrast to the theoretical endeavors in the field. Until recently the biographical genre stood in the long shadow of Leon Edel, who in Writing Lives theorized the model of “secret-self-biography,” which basically left historians with the task of excavating the private, the hidden self of a historical subject, its personality, character and inner mental core that supposedly provided all the answers to the questions of why a historical actor acted the way he or she did. Against this long and lasting tradition of “secret-self-biography,” the project of a “new biography” began to unfold in the 1980/90s, which was driven by the pluralization of agents, actors and voices in American history in the wake of the Civil Rights Revolution on the one hand, and by the impact of poststructuralism on the other. Invalidating some of the central premises of traditional biography in the historicist tradition, the “new biography” accepts the elusive openness of individual selves, allows for fluid, multiple identities, and is aware of the social constructedness of “the Biographical.” Furthermore, the “new biography” shows an interest in the narrativity, mediality, practices, uses, performances and functions of biography in processes of cultural meaning-making. This has the effect that the formerly clear-cut opposition of “biography” and “autobiography” become blurred. Also, new forms and media of auto/biographical representation like for example biopics or internet blogs have come into view. Against this backdrop, the conference wants to bring together practioners in the field of biography (mostly historians) and theoreticians from the field of literary studies to discuss the opportunities and limits of the current interdisciplinary debates about biography and autobiography for the study of American history. Three trajectories will structure the program: First, the conference will position the debate in the triangle of curriculum vita, biography and autobiography, i.e. the facts of a lived live, its narrative interpretation by a participant observer and its narrative interpretation by the person who has lived this life. Second, it will strive to reflect the multiple functions and uses of auto/biography in the multiple and changing contexts of American history....
International Conference in Honor of Christa Buschendorf: The Implicit Sociology of Literature
Goethe-University Frankfurt, Institute for English and American Studies June 25-27, 2015 American Studies has recently witnessed a surging interest in inquiries that bring together the disciplines of literary studies and sociology. Scholars within this vibrant field of research have so far mostly aimed at embedding literature in society and conceptualizing it as a social institution. This international conference on the occasion of the retirement of Christa Buschendorf, longtime professor of American Studies in Frankfurt, takes a slightly different approach: rather than analyzing the social dimensions of literature with the means of sociology, it focuses on the chiasmic interpenetration of literary and sociological modes of perceiving the social. The conference will be opened on Thursday, June 25, 5 pm, with a keynote lecture by the renowned sociologist Loïc Wacquant (Berkeley), to be followed by an opening reception. On Friday and Saturday, the program will continue with talks by Astrid Franke (Tübingen), Herwig Friedl (Düsseldorf), Alfred Hornung (Mainz), Heinz Ickstadt (Berlin), Günter Leypoldt (Heidelberg), Katja Sarkowsky (Münster), Dietmar Schloss (Heidelberg), Peter Schneck (Osnabrück), Werner Sollors (Harvard), and Cas Wouters (Utrecht/Amsterdam). The conference will close with Christa Buschendorf’s Abschiedsvorlesung on Saturday, June 27, at 4.30 pm. The title of her farewell lecture is “Reading Race Relationally.” The conference is open to the interested public; the organizers appreciate registration via email (Vatanasomboon@em.uni-frankfurt.de). For more information on the program, see the attachment or click here:...
Tagungsbericht: Histories of American Foodways – Annual Meeting of the Historians in the DGfA
Von Hanno Scheerer, Institute for Transnational American Studies, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz “Are microwaves really that bad?” Diese Frage aus dem Plenum auf der Konferenz “Histories of American Foodways” dürfte wohl gut zusammenfassen, was man gemeinhin mit Nordamerika und Ernährung verbindet: Billiges und industriell hergestelltes Essen und Fettleibigkeit. Dass die Geschichte des Essens in Nordamerika jedoch weitaus komplexer ist, wurde auf der Jahrestagung der Historiker/innen der DGfA deutlich, veranstaltet von NINA MACKERT und JÜRGEN MARTSCHUKAT (beide Erfurt). Die Food History erforscht aus historischer Perspektive den Zusammenhang zwischen Nahrungsmitteln/Ernährung und Gesellschaften. Welchen Einfluss haben gesellschaftliche Konventionen und kulturelle Normen auf Nahrung und Ernährung? Wie beeinflussen umgekehrt Nahrungsmittel Gesellschaften? Essen und Trinken werden nicht als bloße Genuss- oder Nährmittel betrachtet, sondern als Ausdruck von Identitäten, als Objekte politischer Prozesse und historischer Wissensproduktionen, und als Machtmittel, die Subjekte formen. Die historische Analyse von Essen und Trinken hat in Nordamerika ihren besonderen Reiz. Wer einmal in den zweifelhaften Genuss eines Produktes wie des “Mile High Bacon Thickburgers” bei Hardee’s (1.190 Kalorien) kam, wird sich unweigerlich fragen: Was ist hier falsch gelaufen? Ob und was hier falsch gelaufen ist, und warum es gute Gründe gibt zu glauben, dass hier etwas falsch gelaufen ist – das lässt sich am besten aus historischer Perspektive analysieren. Nur wenn wir uns die vergangenen Jahrhunderte der US-amerikanischen Essenskultur genauer ansehen, können wir verstehen, warum Nordamerika is(s)t, wie es is(s)t. Wie die Konferenz zeigte, kommen dabei oft überraschende Erkenntnisse zu Tage. Das erste Panel vereinte Vorträge zur Bedeutung von Essen und Trinken in der Konstruktion ethnischer Identitäten. LEONARD SCHMIEDING (Washington DC) setzte sich mit der Konstruktion von Deutschheit in Restaurants im San Francisco des späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhunderts auseinander. Mit Hilfe der Kategorien Space, Entertainment und Food analysierte Schmieding, wie die Besitzer deutscher Lokale bewusst eine spezifische Form von “Germanness” evozieren wollten, die jedoch wenig mit den lokalen Traditionen deutscher Einwanderer zu tun hatte. In Anlehnung an Eric Hobsbawm sprach Schmieding somit von “erfundenen Traditionen”, die erfolgreich ein stereotypes Bild von Deutschheit erschufen. Um die bewusste Erschaffung angeblich “deutscher” Traditionen ging es auch in einem der spannendsten Vorträge der Tagung von JANA WEISS (Münster). Weiß sprach über Wisconsins deutschstämmige Bierbrauer in der Zeit vor der Prohibition, die ihre “Germanness” als Marketingtrick nutzten und dabei auf drei Aspekte setzten: “deutsche” Qualität, Gemütlichkeit und Gesundheit. Diese Marketingstrategie hatte laut Weiß unmittelbare Rückwirkungen auf die amerikanische Wirtschaft und Trinkkultur: Um die Jahrhundertwende wurde Bier zu 90 Prozent nach deutscher Brauart produziert, und die Zahl “typisch” deutscher, familienfreundlicher Biergärten wuchs im Gegensatz zu den mit Männlichkeit assoziierten Saloons. Die Vermarktung und der Konsum von Bier sei hiermit zu einem politischen Emblem einer stetig...
International Conference 2015
Alliances: Un/Common Causes and the Politics of Participation Keynote lectures will be held by José David Saldívar (Literature, Stanford University), Wil Verhoeven (Culture, University of Groningen), and Andrei Markovits (Sociology, University of Michigan Ann Arbor). The conference will be concluded with closing remarks delivered by Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman (Brandeis University / FU Berlin). Registration We encourage you to register as early as possible. In order to do so, please send an email to alliances@gsnas.fu-berlin.de stating your full name, contact information and institutional affiliation. Unfortunately, the Graduate School of North American Studies cannot provide any grants to cover your participation fee and travel expenses. If you have any questions concerning the registration process, please contact us at alliances@gsnas.fu-berlin.de. Panel Structure and Conference Program Thursday 7th May 3.30 pm Registration 4.00 pm Opening Address by Ulla Haselstein (Director of the GSNAS, Freie Universität Berlin) 4.30 pm Coffee Break Thursday 7th May, 4.45 pm Panel I The State(s) and its Others: Institutions and the Politics of Representation Panel Chair: Jasper Verlinden (Freie Universität Berlin) Alexia Schemien (University of Duisburg-Essen) Of Librotraficantes and MAS Races: Alliance Building in the Aftermath of Arizona’s Book Ban Jiann-Chyng Tu (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin) An Alliance with the “other America”: East German Solidarity with the African American Civil Rights Struggle 5.45 pm Coffee Break 6.00 pm Keynote Address: José David Saldívar (Stanford University) Friday 8th May 9.30 am Registration 10.00 am Keynote Address: Wil Verhoeven (University of Groningen) 11.00 am Coffee Break Friday 8th May, 11.15 am Panel II The Limits of Subversion: Cooperation and Cooptation in the Neoliberal Age Panel Chair: Mathias Großklaus (Freie Universität Berlin) Blair Taylor (New School of Social Research) Social Movements and the New Spirit of Capitalism: The Strange Bedfellows of Neoanarchism and Neoliberalism Funda Çoban (Aksaray University) Electronic Faces of Counter-Public Spaces Cord-Heinrich Plinke (Freie Universität Berlin) Equality–But for Whom? 12.45 pm Lunch Break Friday 8th May, 2.00 pm Panel III & IV Mobilizing Across Borders: Transnational Alliances Panel Chair: Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman (Brandeis University / Freie Universität Berlin) Denijal Jegić (Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz) #FromFergusonToGaza – The (Re)Emergence of Afro-Arab Solidarity through Social Media Maurits Meijers (Berlin Graduate School for Transnational Studies) Transnational Far Right Alliances: The Case of Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party Imke Brust (Haverford College) Alliances Beyond Borders: Transnational Activists David Jünger (ZJS – Center for Jewish Studies Berlin-Brandenburg) Legacies of an (Un)common Past: German-Jewish Refugees and the Civil Rights Movement in Postwar America 4.00 pm Coffee Break Friday 8th May, 4.30 pm Panel V Stories of Change: Narrating Movements, Moving Narratives Panel Chair: Simon Schleusener (Freie Universität Berlin) Talel Ben Jemia (Freie Universität Berlin) It Gets Better (?!) – Cross-generational...
Registration Annual Meeting in Bonn, May 28-31, 2015
If you are a member of the German Association for American Studies (DGfA|GAAS) please transfer the conference fee to the account specified below. Once you have done so, you are automatically registered. You will find your receipt in your conference folder. If you register for the conference only, the reference (‘Verwendungszweck’) should read as follows: DGFA JT2015 “Last name, First name” If you plan to take part in the river cruise on the Rhine on the evening of Friday, May 29 (7:00-9:30 pm), please add €25.00 to the amount you transfer (this covers the boat ride, finger food, and two drinks). See our excursions page for more info on this as well as our Sunday afternoon trip to the Arp Museum. Please note: In order to take part in the river cruise please transfer the additional sum of € 25.00 and please use the following reference: DGFA JT 2015 “Last name, First name” + river cruise Account information: Dt. Ges. für Amerikastudien IBAN: DE81 8004 0000 0127 5981 00 BIC: COBADEFFXXX (Commerzbank Halle, account no.: 127 598 100, bank code: 800 400 00) Conference fee information: Regular fee: From April 18 and for registration at the conference office in Bonn, the fee will be € 50.00 (for students and members with incomes below € 1,000/month: € 30.00). If you transfer the money after May 18, please bring along verification, i.e., the transfer voucher. Non-DGfA members may register for the conference (and excursions) on site at Bonn. The fee for them is € 80.00 (€ 35.00 for students). There is also a one-day-only rate: € 30.00 (€ 15.00 for students). If you plan to join us for our trip to the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck – which will take place after the official farewell on Sunday afternoon, May 31, 2:00-6:00 pm – please register via email to nas@uni-bonn.de until May 4. Depending on the size of the group, the trip will cost about € 15.00 to 20.00 which covers the (11 minute) train ride, the entrance fee, and a guided tour and is to be paid for during conference office hours. For more information on this splendid place on the Rhine, please visit http://www.arpmuseum.org/. We will end the day with coffee and cake or supper at the restaurant Interieur 253 at Bahnhof Rolandseck. Information on our trip to the Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck on Sunday, May, 31:http://gaas2015.com/special-events/ If you are in need of child care during the conference, please let us know by April 15 (nas@uni-bonn.de) so we can organize this service according to your needs. In your e-mail, please specify the particular times you require child care, as well the child’s/children’s...
Annual Meeting Conference Program
62nd Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies (GAAS) Knowledge Landscapes North America Date: May 28-31, 2015 Conference venue: Universität Bonn, Main Building, Regina-Pacis-Weg 3, 53111 Bonn Local organizer: North American Studies Program, Universität Bonn Conference Program Thursday, May 28 7:30-9:00 am(during breakfast) Business Meeting of the Editors of DGfA|GAAS Publications Ameron Hotel Königshof 9:30 am-4:00 pm12:30-1:30pm DGfA|GAAS Board MeetingLunch at Restaurant Ruland Dekanatssaal 2:00-5:00 pm Conference Office Room 1.070 3:00-4:30 pm PGF Meeting Lecture Hall III 3:00-4:30 pm Electronic Publishing Initiative Lecture Hall XIII 5:00-7:30 pm Conference OpeningCarmen Birkle, President GAAS Welcome Addresses Rector and|or Dean Jürgen Nimptsch, Lord Mayor, City of Bonn Sabine Sielke, Director, North American Studies Program Ambassador John B. Emerson Award Ceremony Fulbright American Studies Award Christoph Daniel Ebeling Fellowship Franz Steiner Preis Best AmSt Article Award Keynote Lecture Christopher Newfield (Department of English, University of California, Santa Barbara) “New Roles for Academia? The American University and the Knowledge Economy” Chair: Sarah Wasserman (Freie Universität Berlin) Music by the Jazz Choir of the Universität Bonn Auditorium (Aula) 7:30-9:00 pm Reception Auditorium (Aula) and Foyer Friday, May 29 8:00 am-5:30 pm Conference Office Room 1.070 9:00-10:30 am Keynote LectureSiva Vaidhyanathan (Department of Media Studies & School of Law, University of Virginia)“The Production and Circulation of Knowledge in the Age of Google” Chair: Frank Kelleter (Freie Universität Berlin) Auditorium (Aula) 10:30-11:00 am Coffee Break Foyer 11:00 am-12:30 pm Keynote LectureSusan Schuppli (Department of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London)“Forensic Imagination: What Images Know” Chair: Hanjo Berressem (Universität zu Köln) Auditorium (Aula) 12:30-2:00 pm Lunch BreakPGF Lunch Meeting 2:00-5:00 pm Parallel Workshops 1-8 Coffee available between 3:00 and 4:00 pm Lecture Halls II-VI, XI-XIIIRondell 5:30-6:30 pm Women’s Caucus Lecture Hall IX 7:00-9:30 pm Cruise on the Rhine Saturday, May 30 8:00 am-5:30 pm Conference Office Room 1.070 9:00-10:30 am Keynote LectureSverker Sörlin (Division of Science, Technology and Environment, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm)“Frost or Heat on Humanities and Social Sciences? Understanding the Climate Change in North American Knowledge Landscapes” Chair: Ulfried Reichardt (Universität Mannheim) Auditorium (Aula) 10:30-11:00 am Coffee Break Foyer 11:00 am-1:30 pm Members’ Meeting Auditorium (Aula) 1:30-2:30 pm Lunch BreakTeaching American Studies Lunch Diversity Lunch 2:30-5:30 pm Parallel Workshops 9-16 Coffee available between 3:00 and 4:00 pm ...
International Conference: “Everyday Heroism in the United States, Germany, and Britain from the 19th to the 21st Century,” Goethe-University of Frankfurt, March 6-7, 2015
This conference aims to explore the history of everyday heroism (Alltagsheldentum) in the United States, Germany, and Britain between 1800 and the present. For the purposes of this conference, everyday heroes and heroines are defined as ordinary men, women, and children who are honored for actual or imagined feats that are considered heroic by their contemporaries or by succeeding generations. Scholars have devoted countless pages to war heroes, heroic leaders, and superheroes as well as to the blurring distinctions between heroes and celebrities, but they have said little about the meaning and impact of ordinary citizens¹ heroism. The conference seeks to fill this void. Comparing the United States, Germany, and Britain, it asks when this hero type first emerged and how it was discussed and depicted in public discourse, mass media, literature, film, and other forms of popular culture in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. In addition, the conference will shed light on the various social, cultural, and political functions that everyday heroism served in democracies and dictatorships (e.g. the norms and values it represented or the collective identities it was believed to strengthen). Finally, the conference asks what role transatlantic processes of exchange, translation, and adaptation played in its history. The conference program is available on the website of the University of Frankfurt’s American Studies Department: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/41112627/aktuelles For additional information, please contact conference organizer Simon Wendt at...
International Conference: “Race, Gender, and Military Heroism in U.S. History: From World War I to 9/11,” Goethe-University of Frankfurt, March 20-21, 2015.
In 20th-century America, military heroism became a key symbol of what was regarded as a heterosexual, masculine white nation. Military heroism thus became a major discursive battleground on which dominant notions of race, gender, and national identity were negotiated, challenged, and revised. The conference seeks to probe this complex interrelationship and how it changed between 1914 and 2014, asking how military heroism helped to construct and challenge racialized and gendered hierarchies in the United States. It seeks to examine how praise for heroic behavior on the battlefield or the refusal to give such praise became either a means of marginalization or a resource that minorities could utilize to protest against their marginal status. This process is closely linked to dominant notions of masculinity and femininity, to scientific and popular understandings of race, and to politicized ideals of heroism and American citizenship. It is this interrelationship that the conference will focus on. The conference program is available on the website of the University of Frankfurt’s American Studies Department: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/41112627/aktuelles For additional information, please contact conference co-organizer Simon Wendt at...
Historians’ Chapter of the DGFA: The History of American Foodways
Date and Venue: 13 Feb. 2015 – 15 Feb. 2015, Augustinerkloster, Erfurt Conveners: Nina Mackert, Jürgen Martschukat (Erfurt University) we are happy to invite you to the next annual meeting of the historians in the GAAS on “Histories of American Foodways.” Attached you’ll find our conference program which reflects the many angles and exciting variety of research fields addressed by the study of food in American history, culture, and society. Please register for the conference until January 31, 2015 by sending an email to Maria.Matthes@uni-erfurt.de Conference fee including board is EUR 48,50, to be paid at the conference site. For room reservations please get in touch with the Augustinerkloster at veranstaltungen@augustinerkloster.de, indicating DGfA in the subject heading. Kochen und Essen in den USA Martin Gramlich im Gespräch mit Dr. Nina Mackert vom Lehrstuhl für Nordamerikanische Geschichte der Universität Erfurt | Martin Gramlich, Dr. Nina Macker...
Call for Papers: DGfA Annual Meeting “Knowledge Landscapes North America”, Bonn, May 28-31, 2015
Deadline January 15, 2015. All members of the association and those interested are invited to submit paper proposals for the 2015 Annual Conference of the German Association for American Studies “Knowledge Landscapes North America.“ The 2015 Annual Conference endeavors to map North American knowledge landscapes from the perspectives of literary, cultural, and media studies, history, political science, sociology, and economics as well as through the arts. For further information on the general topic and the venue please consult the DGfA homepage https://dgfa.de/annual-meeting/ or the the conference homepage http://gaas2015.com/. Please send your paper proposals directly to the workshop organizers listed below. Each workhop will have six slots for presentations. A minimum of two presentations have been submitted in advance and will appear in the workshop descriptions below. The deadline for further submissions is January 15, 2015. Speakers at the conference must be members of the Association or of one of its international sister organizations in American Studies. It is not necessary to become a member until the paper proposal has been accepted. Please find the list of workshops here...
Conference Announcement: “The Place of Photography,” Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, December 5-6, 2014
International Conference and Photography Exhibition American Studies, Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, December 5-6, 2014 “To be in the world, to be situated at all, is to be in place,” writes philosopher Edward Casey. In a culture dominated by images, photography is the prime medium for situating us in such specific places, as photography relates to place in multiple ways. Place, for one, is captured on the photographic plate or a digital file as what the photographer chooses to see — to place — in front of the camera’s lens. Place also involves questions of perspective and “practices of looking” (Sturken/Cartwright). Photographic practices are intricately interwoven with the ideological implications of how past and contemporary places have been rendered in pictures. How are subjects positioned – “placed” – and hence constituted in photographic practice, and how do we read these emplacements in both their political as well as aesthetic senses? We will investigate the sense of place created by photographers, both past and contemporary, and photography’s still powerful allure of having captured a specific moment in time and space. We will also look at the place of photography in contemporary society, its political uses and functions as well as its place in the arts and the academy at large. Organizers: Kerstin Schmidt, Julia Faisst Sponsors: KU Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Bayerische Amerika-Akademie, Bayerische Forschungsallianz Speakers: Miles Orvell (Temple University) Kathy Kubicki (University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury/Farnham) Liam Kennedy (University College Dublin) Gerd Hurm (Universität Trier) Stefanie Diekmann (Universität Hildesheim) Joseph Imorde (Universität Siegen) David Lubin (Wake Forest University) Anke Ortlepp (Universität Kassel) Eric Sandeen (University of Wyoming) Katharina Fackler (Universität Regensburg) Simon Robinson (University of the Arts, London) Mitchell Schwarzer (California College of the Arts) Emily Setina (University of Nevada) Shamoon Zamir (New York University Abu Dhabi) Photo Exhibition: Hubert P. Klotzeck, “Non-Places: Stone Quarries Near Eichstaett”, Galerie Bildflaeche For more information, see http://www.ku.de/slf/anglistik/amerikanistik/conferences or contact Julia Faisst at...
Historians’ Chapter of the DGFA: The History of American Foodways
Date and Venue: 13 Feb. 2015 – 15 Feb. 2015, Augustinerkloster, Erfurt Conveners: Nina Mackert, Jürgen Martschukat (Erfurt University) we are happy to invite you to the next annual meeting of the historians in the GAAS on “Histories of American Foodways.” Attached you’ll find our conference program which reflects the many angles and exciting variety of research fields addressed by the study of food in American history, culture, and society. The conference will be held on February 13-15, 2015 in Erfurt at the Augustinerkloster, a medieval monastery turned into a conference venue in the city center. For more information please see www.augustinerkloster.de and the conference program....
A Monograph Series
A Monograph Series